Paulos Tesfagiorgis

Paulos Tesfagiorgis is an Eritrean human rights activist. He established the only People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) licensed Regional Centre for Human Rights and Development in Eritrea. Tesfagiorgis was also co-founder and head of the Eritrean Relief Association during the Eritrean War of Independence.

Early career after independence

During the Eritrean War of Independence Paulos Tesfagiorgis was the head of the Eritrean Relief Association, coordinating international aid for Eritreans, particularly during the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. Following Eritrean independence, Tesfagiorgis was appointed to the commission which drafted Eritrea's constitution. The constitution was ratified in 1997. In 2002, Tesfagiorgis and 17 other Eritreans set up the Citizens Initiative for the Salvation of Eritrea (CISE).

He believes that only democratically elected governments have legitimacy, because they are always accountable to the people they govern. For this reason he also abstains from violence. He joined the UK-based nonpartisan activist group Eritrea Focus in 2018 to promote nonviolent transition to democratic rule.

Exile Fearing for his safety due to his critical stance against the government's reluctance to democratize, Tesfagiorgis left Eritrea for London in April 2001 . From his exile in London, and later in South Africa, Tesfagiorgis has been working for the advocacy organisation Justice Africa, and has spent much time working for agreements among other Eritrean dissidents on a nonviolent democratic alternative for Eritrea. In June 2015, a United Nations Commission on Human Rights of Inquiry accused Eritrean president Isaias Afwerki of systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations that may constitute crimes against humanity.

Honors and awards Paulos Tesfagiorgis was awarded the Thorolf Rafto Memorial Prize for 2003 for his work for human rights and democracy.